Why is the sidereal day is just under four minutes shorter than the solar day?

For a 365.25 day period the accumulation of the aforesaid four minute shortages from the solar day is or 1461 minutes or 24.35 hours. therefore the sidereal year is 364.25 days.

If the earth did not spin on its axis as it continued its yearly journey around the sun we would have a one complete daily function that is a gift from heaven that does not rely upon the earthly rotation on its axis.

Adding this gift from heaven to the 364.25 sidereal days appears to provide us with our 365.25 day year.

I find great consternation when we do not have a worldwide daily system to record events like births and deaths and the sidereal year is the answer. We would have 364 days plus the heavenly gift day of December 31.

Any thoughts on this?

Isn't this why February has 29 days in the month once every 4 years?   (Leap Year)?

The sidereal day is the time it takes for the rotation of the earth to get in syncronization with fixed stars. and it is almost four minutes sharter than the solar day.

Leap years are a different from the topic.

The Earth is in an orbit around the sun, which is what we basically set out clocks by, However, we see the stars in motion as the earth rotates on its own axis while it orbits around the Sun..

Sidereal time is a measure relative to the fixed stars. The amount of time it takes Earth to complete one rotation on its own axis so that stars will appears twice on the observers celestial meridian. Since the Earth rotates as it is in motion around the Sun, the Earths position relative to the stars varies each day, so a sidereal day is approximately 4 min shorter than the solar day. 
Does that make any sense?

Other thing you might want to check would be: Solar day, Mean solar day,  Earths rotation and orbital motion, Diurnal Motion..

On a side note: 

Leap year is to correct for the fraction more than 365 days it actually takes the Earth to circle the Sun. It's meant to keep the Gregorian calender, which is the one most of us use, in sync with the Vernal equinox - astronomical / seasonal year. To keep the Vernal Equinox on or close to March 21st.

The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days 

Have A Nice ________ 

Thanks Tim!...........I think I'm a little over my Head on this Thread ......But hey I guess I'm a Poet and didn't even Know it!..............lol.....................Dave

The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days 

You have failed to observe that we get the functions of an extra day from the result of our yearly orbit around the sun.   

The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 solar days long.
The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days 

The actual year length as seen from a stationary star is close to 364.2425 sidereal days. the extra day functions are only observed from earth and are incorporeal,as the earth  does not spin on its axis to create it.

 Cheers

Ken

Meahanics:

The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days 

You have failed to observe that we get the functions of an extra day from the result of our yearly orbit around the sun.   

Since that part isn't the topic of this thread I wasn't trying to get into too much detail, However,  even without getting into too much detail,,  I don't believe I did forget!... I did briefly mention that the Earth takes a bit more than a year to circle(orbit) the Sun..

Have A Nice __________